Posted on February 10, 2017 in Commercial Vehicle Accidents

A few years ago, the American Bus Association Foundation commissioned a study to determine how large and active the motorcoach industry was in parts of North America. The result was the Motorcoach Census of 2014. Below are some of its findings.

The industry is particularly robust in the United States, with 32,825 motorcoaches being operated by 3,330 different companies. Perhaps surprisingly, 94 percent of those were small companies owning and operating no more than 24 motorcoaches. Yet they offered more than 255 million passenger trips, racking up 46 percent of the mileage for all motorcoaches.

In 2014, there were 604 million passenger trips when Canadian figures are included. All told, passengers traveled more than 61 billion miles that year.

Motorcoaches companies offer charters, tours, sightseeing ventures, shuttles to and from airports, commuter services and special services and operations.

In 2014, 128,300 individuals found employment with the industry. Of that total, 71,900 were full-time and 56,400 were part-time. The smaller companies offered the lion's share of the jobs at 60 percent.

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 Posted on February 03, 2017 in Drunk Driving Accidents

This year, no matter your game day plans, make sure that they do not involve driving after consuming alcoholic beverages. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there is an uptick of deaths linked to alcohol consumption on Super Bowl Sunday, a day traditionally celebrated by drinking.

AAA is offering a few tips for game day celebrations that can eliminate the need for getting behind the wheel after downing a few too many beers.

The Senior Public Affairs Specialist for the automotive agency stated, "Make your winning drive a sober one and designate a driver before you stock up on the wings, nachos and beer. Don't fumble when it comes to safety."

Below are some suggestions for a safer celebration.

— Pre-arrange a ride with a designated driver.

— Call a sober friend or relative for a sober ride home.

— Use a ride-sharing service like Uber or Lyft, or call a taxi.

— If you are at a friend's house, sleep it off for a few hours or spend the night where you are.

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 Posted on January 27, 2017 in Drunk Driving Accidents

They don't call it "beer gut" for nothing. For a very few unlucky individuals, chowing down on a meal consisting mainly of carbohydrates winds up getting them intoxicated without ever taking a sip of liquor.

How can that be? These patients actually have a rare medical condition known as auto-brewery syndrome where their digestive tracts produce large quantities of brewer's yeast.

That's the magic ingredient needed to ferment sugar into alcohol, as any home-brewer can tell you. So in the hours after consuming meals laden with sugars or carbs, these unwitting folks find themselves experiencing all of the side effects of alcohol intoxication — unsteady gait, dizziness, difficulty operating motor vehicles and even hangovers.

One man got himself drunk so often — even being buzzed on his way home from Sunday church services — that his suspicious wife purchased a Breathalyzer to test him for "closet drinking."

His gastroenterologist finally figured it out after hospitalizing him and testing his blood alcohol content periodically. Even when they ascertained he had consumed no booze, his BAC at one point was.12 percent, well in excess of the legal driving limits in all 50 states.

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 Posted on January 20, 2017 in Truck Accidents

Do you ever see a semi-truck driver make a boneheaded move on the road and wonder if the driver got his commercial driver's license out of a Crackerjack box?

It might not be that great of a stretch, unfortunately. Many truck drivers have not gotten adequate training before getting behind the wheel of these big rigs.

That just can't be good. Consider the extreme weight and size of these behemoths. Add a cargo load of volatile chemicals or flammable liquids and you basically have a rolling time bomb in the lane next to you.

Every year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reports that 5,000 people die and another 100,000 suffer injuries in collisions with large commercial semi-truck s. One study determined that roughly 27 percent of accidents involving big rigs were attributed to the driver's inadequate driving training.

At any given time, American companies are short around 50 K truck drivers who are needed to start shipping cargo from across town and from coast to coast. This causes companies to hire drivers who haven't received enough training to safely operate their big rigs.

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 Posted on January 13, 2017 in Car Accidents

Sometimes those who have been injured in auto accidents may have to deal with subrogation rights with an insurance company. While generally this action is taken between insurance companies, occasionally the injured party may become involved.

Subrogation deals with the legal rights of insurance companies to pay out claims that are owed by other parties, usually another insurance company. The company that initially paid the claim must then collect its money back from the liable party at a later point.

In most cases, subrogation is the final step in an insurance claim. For some claims, it will never be an issue. When insurance companies pursue subrogation, they are legally obliged to inform their injured customers of that.

The insurance company's actions could affect you in a couple of ways. The terms of your policy require your cooperation in their attempts at recovery, so you can't waive other people's liability for your injuries or damages or otherwise release them or their insurer from their responsibility to repay the claim.

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 Posted on January 06, 2017 in Commercial Vehicle Accidents

You can't drive down a highway in Virginia without passing scores of corporate logos plastered onto the rolling billboards known as semi trucks.

Besides their advertising value, these logos have a legal purpose. Known as "logo liability," these familiar emblems and images may determine the extent of a company's liability if one of those trucks is involved in an accident.

When commercial carriers haul freight for compensation using drivers in leased trucks instead of their own company fleet, that driver is an independent contractor. This can limit the company's liability in negligence cases.

But because huge corporations can use this loophole to dodge responsibility for an accident victim's injuries and other damages, the feds stepped in with regulations mandating that commercial carriers:

"shall have exclusive possession, control, and use of the equipment for the duration of the lease [and] shall assume complete responsibility for the operation of the equipment for the duration of the lease."

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 Posted on December 29, 2016 in Drunk Driving Accidents

Instead of meeting the challenges of a new year, some revelers who encounter drunk drivers on the highway this New Year's could be spending their last moments alive.

As one of the most deadly holidays of the year, New Year's Eve traditionally causes a year-end spike in traffic deaths attributed to drunk driving.

Last year in America, an average of 31 individuals died in collisions involving impaired drivers on each of the six days beginning on New Year's Eve and ending on Jan. 5, Bankrate.com reported.

Those deaths were in addition to those fatalities that occurred over the Christmas holidays from Christmas Eve through Dec. 28. Those days racked up, on average, 34 deaths from alcohol-related crashes. Over the entire 2015 holiday season from Christmas to New Year's, 259 died in DUI wrecks.

In December 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that nationwide, 840 individuals lost their lives due to alcohol impairment behind the wheel.

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 Posted on December 23, 2016 in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents

Winter storms have already wreaked death and destruction for residents of northern Virginia and Maryland even before motorists headed out for the holiday weekend.

CNN reported that ice-covered roads were to blame for three deaths in the two states on Dec. 17.

Storm conditions left dozens of other drivers and passengers stranded on stretches of Interstate 95 near the Baltimore area where one major vehicle pile-up was estimated to involve 55 cars.

The wintry weather caused deadly conditions around 5 a.m., sending 11 to area hospitals. A tweet from Baltimore County's official Twitter account indicated that as many as 20 vehicles collided near Rosedale on the I-695, with six requiring hospitalization.

The same winter weather advisory from the National Weather Service warning of freezing rain and sleet in the Baltimore metro area caused slick roads in northern Virginia.

According to the Virginia State Police, 41 weather-related collisions occurred during the same time period. One death was reported in Fairfax County on Interstate 495, CNN reported.

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 Posted on December 16, 2016 in Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents

When tragedy strikes and a loved one loses his or her life, families struggle to cope with their losses. But when those losses were due to negligence or careless disregard for the safety of others, it's understandable to get angry and want to seek justice.

Thankfully, we do not live in a vigilante society. But that doesn't mean that you must turn the other cheek and give the at-fault party a pass for taking the life of your loved one.

The civil court system was designed to give those who were wronged a clear path to seek justice. That's what we strive to provide for our clients who file wrongful death litigation after the heartbreaking loss of their loved ones.

Sometimes these lawsuits are filed in addition to criminal charges related to the fatal accident that the at-fault party is already facing. However, it's important to understand that these are two entirely separate matters. Civil cases can go forward whether criminal charges are filed and even if the defendant winds up acquitted.

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 Posted on December 09, 2016 in Truck Accidents

Truck drivers are some of the most experienced drivers on the road. They literally drive for a living, with many of them working on the roads for more than 40 hours a week. So, why are serious injuries so often linked to accidents with commercial trucks?

The reason the injuries are so serious has less to do with the drivers and more to do with the trucks themselves. While experience may help truck drivers avoid accidents, once they are involved in a wreck, the basic physics of the situation come into play.

In short, many passengers cars weigh only a few thousand pounds. Small coups, sports cars and hybrids often weigh the least, but even a large pickup truck doesn't have that much weight. For instance, the minimum curb weight for a Ford F-150, one of the most common work trucks, is just over 4,000 pounds.

A semi truck, on the other hand, can weigh around 80,000 pounds. The weight sometimes climbs even beyond that for fully-loaded trucks. Obviously, a crash between the two vehicles is not close to equal, and those in the smaller vehicle are in more danger.

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